Randy M. Mastro

Randy M. Mastro is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group, which The American Lawyer named “The Litigation Department of the Year.”  He also Co-Chairs the Firm’s Crisis Management Group, and serves on the Firm’s Management and Executive Committees.  He is routinely ranked among New York’s leading litigators and trial lawyers in surveys of corporate counsel and other practitioners.  In Chambers USA, he has been named one of New York’s top commercial litigators, praised for his “exceptional public reputation,” and described as a “tough, smart,” “outstanding” litigator who “delivers fantastically well in court,” is “extremely savvy and experienced,” “creates cogent and powerful arguments,” and is “unafraid” of challenging cases.  In The Legal 500 – US Edition, he has been featured among the top “leading trial lawyers” in the country, with corporate counsel saying he is “immensely impressive,”  “simply excellent,” “flawless,” “captivating,” and in “a league of his own” in the courtroom, and “deserves an Academy Award” for “bringing a sense of drama and theater to his courtroom appearances.”  Benchmark Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys, recognized him as a “Litigation Star” who is “brilliant and effective,” “always brings a fresh perspective and will fight you to the end,” with one peer joking, “You do not want to meet Randy down a dark alley.  But you REALLY don’t want to meet him in a lighted courtroom.”  Moreover, Lawdragon Magazine has repeatedly cited him among the “500 Leading Lawyers in America.”  Among many high-profile matters, Mr. Mastro led the successful effort to defeat the City’s controversial West Side Stadium project, and he is currently representing Chevron in seeking to prevent enforcement of an $18 billion Ecuadorian judgment.  He has tried dozens of cases in private practice and as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, and he has also argued more than 80 appeals in federal and state appellate courts throughout the country. 

Mr. Mastro has represented such clients as Amazon.com, Bank of New York Mellon, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield/Well Point, AIG, Daimler, Chevron, Wynn, Park Place/Caesar’s/Harrah’s, Madison Square Garden, Cablevision, Dow Jones, Verizon, Home Depot, Quest Diagnostics, IAC/Home Shopping Network, Bear Stearns, Empire Merchants, Edison Schools, Edison Properties, Forest City Ratner, Georgetown, Peter Kalikow, Saks, Ziff Davis, UBS Financial Services, Hewlett Packard, Prudential Securities, Lehman Brothers, Xerox, Octagon, Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, and Steffi Graf.

Before returning to Gibson Dunn in 1998, Mr. Mastro served as New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Operations.  In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing all of the City’s operating agencies and budget and served as the Mayor’s chief liaison with elected officials.  In the Mayor’s absence, he was authorized to act on the Mayor’s behalf.  During his years in the Giuliani administration from 1994 to 1998, Mr. Mastro spearheaded the City’s initiatives to remove organized crime from the Fulton Fish Market, the private carting industry, and the San Gennaro Festival.  He also oversaw the successful turnaround of New York City’s Off-Track Betting Corporation.  For two consecutive years, NY 1-TV named Mr. Mastro one of City government’s “Winners of the Year,” and Manhattan File magazine featured him as one of the “45 Most Powerful New Yorkers 45 and Under.” 

In the early 1990’s, Mr. Mastro was a litigation partner in Gibson Dunn’s New York office.  In 1990, he served as Associate Counsel on the Independent Counsel investigation of HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce.  In 1991, he was appointed Special Master and Monitor of the assets of a Saudi tycoon implicated in the BCCI scandal.

From 1985 to 1989, Mr. Mastro served as Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he specialized in organized crime cases and spearheaded the federal government’s landmark racketeering suit that compelled the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to hold democratic elections and to undergo court supervision.  He received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, and Seven Days magazine cited him as one of “the 25 prosecutors and defenders other lawyers most admire, fear and talk about.”

After graduating cum laude from Yale College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was the school’s moot court champion, Mr. Mastro served as law clerk to Justice Alan B. Handler of the New Jersey Supreme Court.  Then, from 1982 to 1985, Mr. Mastro was a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he was part of the successful libel defense trial team in Westmoreland v. CBS. 

Mr. Mastro is currently teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Mastro was also an adjunct associate professor at Fordham Law School, where he taught complex civil litigation.  He has authored articles in the Federal Communications Law Journal, Fordham Law Review, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and Seton Hall Law Review.  His op-ed pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Daily News, and New York Post, and he has also written for the Washington Post and Time.

Mr. Mastro is a member of the bars of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and many federal courts.  He served on the Federal Courts Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association and chaired two New York City Charter Revision Commissions.  In addition, Mr. Mastro serves as Vice Chair of the Board of the Legal Aid Society of New York City, as well as on the Boards of the Citizens Union of the City of New York, Hamptons International Film Festival, YMCA of Greater New York, Jewish Children’s Museum, and University of Pennsylvania Law School Board of Overseers.  He has also served on the Advisory Board of the Center for New York City Law.

Major Litigation Matters Handled by Randy Mastro

• Chevron – Won dismissal of the Republic of Ecuador’s petition seeking to stay an international treaty arbitration brought by Chevron to compel Ecuador to have to litigate before an impartial forum to remedy Ecuador’s violations of international law, including its efforts to influence the Ecuadorian judiciary to impose a multi-billion dollar judgment on Chevron and its pursuit of criminal charges against Chevron attorneys, in the latest chapter of a 17-year litigation saga on multiple fronts over environmental damage in the Amazon that Ecuador agreed to remediate but has since failed to redress. Obtained a ruling from the Second Circuit ordering a filmmaker to immediately turn over outtakes from “Crude,” a film about the litigation.
• Home Depot – Representing Home Depot in a series of litigations in states around the country that have denied Home Depot refunds on monies that it remitted as sales tax in connection with its private label credit card program but consumers then defaulted on those transactions.
• Amazon.com – Representing Amazon.com in constitutional challenge to new New York State law that requires out-of-state online retailers to collect sales tax on transactions with New York consumers.
• Bear Stearns – Representing Bear Stearns in 100 securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigations involving IPO allocation and research analyst issues. Won dismissal of shareholder derivative action against Bear Stearns and its directors over alleged research analyst conflicts. Represents Bear Stearns officers and directors in shareholder derivative actions over sub-prime issues.
• Daimler/Chrysler Directors – Successfully represented former directors of Daimler and Chrysler, who were alleged by the Chrysler Creditors Committee to have breached a fiduciary duty when Daimler transferred a majority stake of Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus. Within days of oral argument on a motion to dismiss the complaint brought in connection with the Chrysler bankruptcy, the Creditors Committee agreed to voluntarily dismiss.
• Wynn Resorts – Representing Wynn Resorts in a financial dispute with Atlantic-Pacific Capital, Inc. (APC), that APC originally sought to submit to arbitration, but that Wynn has since moved to federal court in Nevada and obtained a stay of arbitration.
• Dow Jones & Company, Inc. – Defending Dow Jones in a consumer class action in the Southern District of New York brought on behalf of a putative nationwide class of annual WSJ.com subscribers regarding access to Barron's Online.
• Bank of New York Mellon – Representing BNY on the appeal of a bankruptcy court decision that affects billions of dollars in transactions in the Lehman bankruptcy proceeding. The bankruptcy court’s decision caused turmoil in the international securitization markets by invalidating market-standard provisions in credit default swap agreements that were designed to protect those who invested in Lehman products. BNY is the trustee over the collateral securing those products; both the current noteholders and a Lehman subsidiary are now claiming priority to that collateral. English courts have thus far found that the current noteholders are entitled to priority; the bankruptcy court found for Lehman.
• Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield/WellPoint – Successfully defended Empire in an action by pension funds that sought more than $6 million in rebates rightfully earned by Empire, securing a dismissal from the bench at oral argument of all causes of action with prejudice. Also, substantial recoveries for Empire against employer and union funds that were defrauding Empire by enrolling “sham” members; successfully defended Empire in action by excess malpractice insurers seeking $75 million in damages; blocked class certification in major pain treatment coverage case; defended Empire in two ERISA trials; represented Empire in patent infringement litigation over Empire’s on-line claim in-take procedure and achieved favorable settlement for Empire.
• AIG/United Guaranty – Defending United Guaranty in a suit brought by SunTrust Mortgage Inc. over insurance coverage, removed to federal court in the E.D. of Virginia, in which sanctions are now being sought against SunTrust seeking dismissal of its case.
• Madison Square Garden/Cablevision – Represented the Garden and others in litigations and lobbying efforts challenging and ultimately defeating New York City’s sweeping proposal to build a new stadium for the New York Jets on Manhattan’s West Side; successfully defended Cablevsion and the Garden in $100 million antitrust suit brought by the New York Jets over their failed stadium bid; represented the Garden in damages phase of Isiah Thomas sexual harassment case and negotiated global settlement of case.
• IAC/Home Shopping Network – Successfully defended IAC’s Home Shopping Network against claims brought in federal court by a competitor alleging trade secret infringement and breach of contract over a “falling price” auction channel launched by Home Shopping Network, and won summary judgment dismissing trade secret claims on the eve of trial.
• Verizon – Obtained summary judgment for Verizon in a New York franchise tax case brought by the City of New York seeking to force Verizon to enter into a separate municipal franchise agreement and pay an annual sum in addition to the nine-figure sum it was already paying. Verizon filed a motion to dismiss, which was converted to a motion for summary judgment. In 2009, the Court (Hon. Ira Gammerman) ruled that Verizon, through its predecessors, had obtained a franchise from the State of New York to operate a telecommunications business and that said franchise had no temporal limit.
• Rusal – Won dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds of billion-dollar civil action in the S.D.N.Y. against Russia’s largest aluminum manufacturer alleging fraud in the Nigerian government’s award of its national aluminum franchise.
• Nursing Personnel Homecare – Defended Nursing Personnel, a Brooklyn-based home health aide agency and its COO against overbilling and other charges by the New York Attorney General. Convinced a state court judge to keep the indictment under seal and developed a compelling argument that the defendants had acted in good faith and in accordance with existing Department of Health regulations. Also uncovered exculpatory information that the prosecutors failed to disclose, leading to the dismissal of the felony criminal case against the company and the COO.
• Peerless Importers/Empire Merchants – Won unanimous federal appellate victory for Peerless as intervenor-defendant upholding the constitutionality of New York State’s ban on direct shipments of out-of-state wines to in-state consumers, but such state laws were ultimately overturned by U.S. Supreme Court in a 5 - 4 decision; successfully defended Peerless in class action brought by delinquent retailers seeking a price preference afforded to prompt payors.
• Park Place/Caesar’s/Harrah’s – Won dismissal and New York Court of Appeals affirmance of state constitutional litigation challenging New York State’s plan to permit Indian casino gaming, and then won affirmance of that dismissal in the New York Court of Appeals.
• Greater New York Hospital Association – Prosecuted state constitutional litigation against Governor Pataki over his selective veto use within comprehensive State budget and impoundment of Medicaid funding, and the pendency of the case ultimately forced the Governor to compromise with the State Legislature.
• Xerox – Won appeal vacating a New York City Department of Education contract award that would have stripped Xerox of its long-standing franchise as the school system’s provider of copying services.
• Peter Kalikow – Headed litigation team for Peter Kalikow in his bankruptcy proceeding, the largest individual debtor bankruptcy in history; also successfully litigated issues for Kalikow relating to New York Post sale; won sanctions for Kalikow against Sheldon Solow and Mark Dreier for contempt of bankruptcy court order.
• Edison Properties – Won unanimous appellate victory for Edison and other adjoining private property owners permitting demolition of New York City'sHigh Line without ULURP review; won court ruling compelling New York State to admit an Edison-owned westside property into the “Brownfields” benefit program.
• Laro Services – Won high-profile litigation against the Bloomberg administration forcing the rehiring of the unloading firm that the Giuliani administration first hired in its reform initiative to rid New York City’s infamous Fulton Fish Market of organized crime corruption.
• Hunts Point Cooperative Market – Won ruling requiring the Bloomberg administration to regulate wholesale produce businesses outside the Cooperative Market, as required under anti-corruption legislation passed during the Giuliani administration; won five-week trial voiding City land deal and requiring rebidding of “sham” competition, but appellate court later found the Cooperative lacked standing because of the insufficiency of its bid.
• Oak Point – Obtained preliminary injunction against the Bloomberg administration to block its plan to condemn Oak Point’s valuable waterfront property to build a City jail there, causing the public project to be abandoned.
• Working Families Party/DFS Voter Lawsuit – Successfully represented Staten Island voters pro bono in a suit that exposed election law violations by the Working Families Party. The suit resulted in a settlement that forced the Working Families Party to relinquish its control over its corporate arm, Data and Field Service, Inc. (DFS) through which it provided cut-rate campaign services and skirted local campaign finance laws, and to see to it that DFS operated independently going forward.
• Term Limits Litigation – Challenged New York City legislation overturning the voter-ratified two-term limit that permitted Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council to seek a third term.
• Palmet Ventures – Won dismissal on personal jurisdiction grounds of breach of contract action brought in the S.D.N.Y against Illinois firm over its decision to sell its Chicago hotel to a party other than the New York-based plaintiff.
• Kaufman Organization – Representing the Kaufman Organization in federal environmental litigation seeking to block the MTA from building a power facility and staging area in Midtown Manhattan as part of a major public works project to extend the LIRR into Grand Central; forced the MTA to withdraw its plan and conduct an “environmental assessment” before deciding how to proceed.
• Edison Schools – Defended Edison in several cases including securities class action and shareholder derivative litigations over accounting practices.
• Multicultural Broadcasting – Represented station owner in a series of actions over removal of liberal talk radio, “Air America,” from the air in Chicago and Los Angeles.
• Lee Strasberg Institute – Won trademark litigation for the Institute, founded by famous actor and acting teacher, Lee Strasberg, over a former student’s misuse of the Strasberg mark as a domain name.
• Anna Kournikova – Represented Anna Kournikova in misappropriation and privacy action against Penthouse Magazine for publishing a piece about the tennis star in which it featured nude photographs of another woman misidentified as Kournikova.
• Martina Hingis – Represented Martina Hingis in product liability action against Tacchini, the Italian sports clothing manufacturer, over defectively designed tennis shoes; successfully represented Hingis and her coach-mother in action to require the USTA and WTA to afford her coach-mother access to the women’s locker room during the 2000 U.S. Open.
• Octagon – Represented Octagon as New York City’s agent in litigation and negotiations over the City’s award of an exclusive sponsorship agreement to Snapple; represented Octagon in several breach of contract actions involving athlete representations.
• Kmart – Represented more than 20 present and former Kmart officers in connection with SEC investigation and related Justice Department investigation of Kmart accounting and disclosure issues.
• Ziff Davis – Defended Ziff Davis in suit brought by former executive seeking $40 million in damages; successfully represented Ziff Davis in obtaining injunction to prevent another former executive from violating a non-compete agreement and misappropriating trade secrets.
• AIG – Served as national coordinating counsel for mass tort asbestos litigation.
• Newsday/Times Mirror/Tribune – Represented Newsday in action brought by the Daily News to prevent its Queens distributors from delivering Newsday; representing Newsday and Tribune Co. in commercial litigation and freedom of information cases.
• Gristedes – Represented Gristedes in federal class action brought by delivery workers alleging wage violation and suing major retail chains on a “joint employer” liability theory.
• 9/11 Firefighters Families – Representing more than 20 percent of the families of fallen firefighters lost in the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in a dispute with the Uniform Firefighters Association over the union’s refusal to distribute $60 million in donations intended for those families.
• Parkshore/Lawrence Friedman – Defended Parkshore, a nursing home and adult day health care facility, in the largest Medicaid fraud case ever brought by the New York Attorney General’s Office; secured a plea disposition and civil settlement in which Parkshore remained in operation under its same family ownership.
• Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones – Won dismissal of libel action brought by former Wall Street Journal reporter over Dow Jones’ public statements about his departure; won acquittal for Journal employee accused of criminal trespass.
• U.S. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters – Headed federal government’s civil racketeering suit that compelled International Brotherhood of Teamsters to hold democratic elections and undergo court supervision; case was cited by The American Lawyer as one of the “ten biggest suits” of the decade.
• Westmoreland v. CBS – Was part of trial team that successfully defended CBS during six-month jury trial of libel suit brought by General Westmoreland; case was cited by The American Lawyer as one of the “ten biggest suits” of the decade.
• BCCI Investigation – Served as federal court-appointed Special Master/Monitor of assets of Gaith Pharaon, a Saudi tycoon implicated in the BCCI scandal.
• Saks – Won substantial recovery for Saks in civil racketeering action against a Saks executive who took kickbacks and rigged bids on Saks capital projects; conducted investigation that led to that civil action and criminal prosecution.
• Oldcastle – Defended Oldcastle in product liability and consumer fraud action that settled during trial for a small fraction of the damages originally sought.
• Intelligent Electronics – Represented Intelligent Electronics in major federal securities fraud class action suit; won partial dismissal of suit.
• Rudolph Giuliani – Was outside counsel to the 1993 Giuliani mayoral campaign; won victories that required the Dinkins campaign to pay more than $500,000 in fines and reimbursement under New York City’s campaign finance law; represented Giuliani Partners in legal dispute.
• HUD Investigation – Served as Associate Counsel during the first six months of the Independent Counsel investigation of former HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce.
• Steffi Graf – Brought successful suit on behalf of the Graf family to prevent a rich eccentric tennis fan from harassing them during the U.S. Open.
• KCAL Disney – Represented KCAL, a Los Angeles TV station, in litigation with the syndicator of The Sally Jessy Raphael Show over future broadcast rights.
• Merv Griffin/Resorts – Defended Griffin in wrongful discharge suit brought by fired Griffin executive; defended Griffin in suit brought by former employee for breach of contract to provide lifetime support; successfully litigated adversary proceedings in Resorts bankruptcy.
• HHL Financial Services – Won injunction after six-week trial for nation’s largest debt collection business against two executives/attorneys who left the company to engage in debt collection work in violation of non-compete agreements.
• City of Yonkers – Brought successful action to recover monies and end contract into which prior administration entered just after losing last election.
• United Press International – Was part of team that obtained injunction to prevent Reuters from ending its photo-sharing agreement with UPI.
• Janet Morgan – Represented school teacher discharged for giving her students assignment on whether CBS should have fired Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder over his remarks about black athletes; won reinstatement, back pay.
• “Blue Thunder” Case – Successfully defended in four-week jury trial undercover police detective accused of brutality in arresting drug dealers.
• Wellington Advertising – Represented Wellington in the New York Court of Appeals on issue of a finder’s legal duty to client sellers.
• Other Bankruptcy Litigation – Represented Financial News Network and Resorts International on litigation matters resolved in their bankruptcies.
• Internal Investigations – Retained by Metromedia, Saks, and HHL Financial Services to conduct internal investigations and report findings to management.
• U.S. v. Hadar – Successfully prosecuted federal government’s first action under new postal fraud statute barring mail order business from further distribution of its products in the U.S. and recovering millions of dollars for defrauded consumers.
• Westway – Was part of trial team that represented Army Corps of Engineers during three-month trial of environmental suit challenging Westway project.
• Other RICO Actions for Federal Government – Obtained trustee over local concrete union dominated by organized crime; won receiver over infamous Little Italy restaurant, Umberto’s Clam House; recovered $2 million from Genovese Organized Crime Family Capo Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianniello.